Russia's Arctic offshore oil platform defended

A senior employee of the state-owned Russian oil company Gazprom has spoken up in defence of the detention of Greenpeace activists who attempted to board an Arctic oil rig.

Speaking to the BBC, chief of platform Artur Akopov argued that Greenpeace's actions could have caused injury or threatened the environment.

All 30 people who were on board the Greenpeace vessel the Arctic Sunrise were detained by Russian authorities when armed officials stormed their ship on 21 September. They have since been charged with piracy.

The row has overshadowed the arrival of the Olympic torch in the country ahead of the 2014 Sochi Games, as Daniel Sandford reports.